Alpine regions are characterized by exceptional natural resources, cultural heritage,
healthy climate, and long tourism tradition. Tourism is a major component of
economic growth, with several employment opportunities, and of great importance
for the Alpine regions, with many positive effects on the local and regional population.
Natural resources can determine the development of competitive tourism destinations and drive the development of nature-based value chains aimed at enhancing
tourists’ health and well-being. Historically, the small size of most enterprises,
the difficulties in establishing collaborative relationships between industry operators, and the lack of strategic projects aimed at the use and exploitation of natural
resources, have hindered a systematic development of a nature-based health tourism
(NHT) value chain. Nowadays, tourist market segments are changing the industry
competitiveness with the request for more nature-based experiential programs, integrating both rewarding elements of beauty, relaxation, and regeneration, and more
demanding elements such as preventative activities and sports. There is an increasing
consciousness of the importance of local environmental and cultural preservation,
the search for relax and stress-relieving products, and the overall authenticity of
the vacation experience. Beyond lifestyle changes, key trends reshaping the health
tourism landscape in Alpine regions include population ageing, climate change, and
consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic both in terms of business losses and the
need for natural remedies against these virus’s long-term effects.
This background challenges health tourism operators to rethink the industry
dynamics with a more innovation-driven strategy and business development, as well
as facilitation of transnational cooperation among all kinds of actors. These include
sectoral and specialized agencies such as destination management organizations,
business support organizations, and tourism organizations; regional councils and
municipalities in charge of policy-making and tourism strategy development; tourism
facilities and companies (especially small- and medium-sized enterprises); universities and research centres that conduct applied research and development within the
health tourism sector and related sectors, based on natural resources or health-related
issues; interest groups and networks supporting nature-based and sustainable health
tourism. Despite the richness of natural resources and health-promoting activities that spread among Alpine regions, the NHT landscape is characterized by innovation
spatial fragmentation, lack of access to knowledge, and little transversal cooperation
for value creation and sharing.
Aimed to address these key territorial challenges, the HEALPS2 project “Healing
Alps: Tourism based on natural health resources as strategic innovation for the development of Alpine regions” was funded in the Priority “Innovative Alpine Space” of
the Interreg Alpine Space program. The key objective of the project was to improve
the framework conditions for utilizing the Alpine natural health resources by leveraging existing and newly developed NHT products and service chains to enhance
access to knowledge and sharing of experiences at a transnational level. The main
project activities took place from October 2019 to June 2022 and involved 11 organizations from 6 countries, i.e. Austria, Italy, Slovenia, Germany, France, and Switzerland. The collaboration between the project partners led to the development of a set of
innovation practices and digital solutions, properly combined with the latest research
results in tourism and health-related issues and the requirements of health tourism
stakeholders collected in several events organized at the local and regional level. The
vision of the project is to contribute to the positioning of the Alpine Space as a globally attractive health-promoting place, with a virtuous process of value generation
and sharing among Alpine assets, actors, and territories.
This book incorporates the key knowledge and experiences, in terms of concepts,
tools, and practices, developed within the HEALPS2 project, here organized into
eight chapters. The content was purposefully organized to dedicate to the core assets
for an Alpine NHT industry excellence, i.e. the natural resources and their healing
effects; the digital tools enhancing the collection, advanced analytics and spread
of data on NHT industry for supporting strategic decision-making; the innovation
practices and communication strategies to properly engage the industry stakeholders.